Systems and methods for interval control element chain architecture

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure generally relates to accessing data, and more particularly, to systems and methods for improving the efficiency and quality of real-time extracting, transforming, and/or loading data using customer information control system (CICS) interval control element (ICE) chain processing.

FIELD OF DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure generally relates to accessing data, and moreparticularly, to systems and methods for improving the efficiency andquality of real-time extracting, transforming, and/or loading data usingcustomer information control system (CICS) interval control element(ICE) chain processing.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Despite innovations leading to more robust and efficient computingsystems and software, the role of mainframe computing remains vital tomany businesses and organizations. In most cases, mainframe computingsystems that are in use today were originally implemented prior to thecomputing innovations of the 1980's and 1990's. However, many businessesand organizations have concluded that it would be too expensive and toointrusive to day-to-day business operations to upgrade their majorsystems to newer technologies. Therefore, to enable continued expansionof computing infrastructures to take advantage of newer technologies,much effort has been devoted to developing ways to integrate oldermainframe technologies with newer server and component basedtechnologies. For instance, COBOL is one of the oldest programminglanguages. It is a legacy language in use by many organizations. Itsname is an acronym for Common Business-Oriented Language, defining itsprimary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems forcompanies and governments.

A Customer Information Control System (CICS) may be an onlinetransaction processing (OLTP) program created by IBM that, together withthe COBOL programming language, has formed over the past several decadesthe most common set of tools for building customer transactionapplications in the world of large enterprise mainframe computing. Agreat number of the legacy applications still in use are COBOL/CICSapplications.

However, the strains on these legacy systems has increased as usersdemand more processing and take advantage of new tools, such asconnecting to the system via the Internet. Users are demanding nearreal-time information and legacy systems have failed to meet thenear-real time threshold of data availability. Therefore, a need existsfor a system and method for increasing computing efficiency, reliabilityand speed within a mainframe environment.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

These above disclosed needs are successfully met via the disclosedsystem and method. For instance, using this system, data is available ina consumption ready format through a highly available cache. In oneembodiment, the CICS ICE Chain Processing may be leveraged to extractdata from a database table, such as one or more DB2 tables.Transformation logic may be executed to create the consumption readydata, for instance based on business rules. The consumption ready datamay be loaded into a cache, such as a cache on a dedicated mainframe(e.g., a Z10 Mainframe). This cached data may contain any informationpertinent to the business activities. This cached data system of thecurrent architecture is designed to provide 99.99% availability of datato its interfaces and users. Most importantly, the response time isaround 12 times faster than the older MQ servicing architecture.

In various embodiments, the present system discloses reusing applicationcode for the extract and transformation purposes, and integrating thiscode with the ICE Chain process/architecture. This ICE Chain process maymanage the Load portion of the ETL through the DB2 remote DRDA DatabaseUpdate, Delete, and Insert processing.

In various embodiments, a system, method or article of manufacture fordata retrieval may include a processor configured to create a loadmodule, a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate withthe processor, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructionsstored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, causethe processor to perform operations comprising: writing a change recordto a master change table, monitoring the master change table by a masterICE Chain, allocating among child change tables with associated childICE Chains a portion of an extract task using a master ICE Chainapplication, executing for each child ICE Chain an application serviceprogram to capture data from a plurality of databases, and performingapplication transformation logic to create a consumption ready record.In various embodiments, the application service program executed may beparticular to the task for each portion of the extract task. Theexecuting of the application service program to capture data from theplurality of databases may be performed according to business rules. Invarious embodiments, the application transformation logic may beperforming computations and/or formatting. The consumption ready recorddata is available without requiring additional computations. Thisconsumption ready record may be written to a cache table.

In various embodiments, a timestamp is associated with each writing tothe master change table. The system may be reset to any timestamp. ICEChain application programs may be configured to run at a predeterminedinterval and/or in response to a measured event Furthermore, in variousembodiments, ICE Chain application programs can link to any anotherprogram stored on a mainframe. Various programs described herein, suchas an ICE Chain application program, may be coded in COBOL. In responseto a transformation occurring or an ICE Chain program being run,denormalization may be performed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present disclosure may be derivedby referring to the detailed description and claims when considered inconnection with the Figures and Tables, wherein like reference numbersrefer to similar elements throughout the Figures, and:

FIG. 1 is a combination block diagram and flowchart illustrating anexemplary architecture for ICE Chain and implementation, according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIGS. 2-4 are flowcharts illustrating exemplary back end implementation,according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description of various exemplary embodiments herein makesreference to the accompanying drawings and pictures, which show theexemplary embodiment by way of illustration. While these exemplaryembodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilledin the art to practice the disclosure, it should be understood thatother embodiments may be realized and that logical and mechanicalchanges may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of thedisclosure. Thus, the detailed description herein is presented forpurposes of illustration only and not of limitation. For example, thesteps recited in any of the method or process descriptions may beexecuted in any order and are not limited to the order presented.Moreover, any of the functions or steps may be outsourced to orperformed by one or more third parties. Furthermore, any reference tosingular includes plural embodiments, and any reference to more than onecomponent may include a singular embodiment.

Systems, methods and computer program products are provided. In thedetailed description herein, references to “various embodiments”, “oneembodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an example embodiment”, etc., indicatethat the embodiment described may include a particular feature,structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarilyinclude the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover,such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment.Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic isdescribed in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it iswithin the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature,structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodimentswhether or not explicitly described. After reading the description, itwill be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implementthe disclosure in alternative embodiments.

In various embodiments, the methods described herein are implementedusing the various particular machines described herein. The methodsdescribed herein may be implemented using the below particular machines,and those hereinafter developed, in any suitable combination, as wouldbe appreciated immediately by one skilled in the art. Further, as isunambiguous from this disclosure, the methods described herein mayresult in various transformations of certain articles.

In general, the system disclosed herein reduces response time, CPU cost,and improves the availability of requests to mainframe services to99.99%. Legacy systems were designed to access multiple database tablesto assemble a response to user requests. Thus, consumption ready datawas not possible as multiple back end processes were needed prior to thedata being current and ready for consumption. Stated another way, usingthe present system a user may make a request (e.g., a request for anaccount balance), and the present system is able to deliver the(substantially) real-time current account balance from the pre-storedcache, without the need to perform additional computations in responseto the user request. This is due to the changes to the account beingpre-populated in response to the changes to the account occurring andbeing received by the transaction account issuer system.

Moreover, using legacy systems accessing multiple DB2 tables andformatting the reply messages required high CPU consumption andunacceptable response time. Unlike legacy systems, in variousembodiments, the data is de-normalized and the final response is storedin the DB2 Cache in a consumption ready format. The cache may be updatedin a near real-time fashion using an Extract, Transform, Load (ETL)method, leveraging a CICS ICE Chain 100 (Interval Control Element).

In various embodiments, in response to a change occurring at a database,a change record is written into a Master DB2 Change table 200 thatcaptures the account code for the accounts changing. In variousembodiments, the change may be a user, such as a transaction accountholder, updating their demographic information on a transaction accountissuer website. The transaction account holder may have an account codeassociated with at least one transaction account.

The Master change table may be monitored by a Master ICE Chain 101. TheMaster ICE Chain 101 distributes the change records into multiple ChildDB2 Change tables 205. A dedicated Child ICE Chain 105 is allocated toprocess the requests from a Child DB2 Change table 205. The dedicatedChild ICE Chain 105 executes an Application Service Program whichextracts the data (e.g., demographic, financial or transaction detailinformation) from various application DB2 tables, and then perform theapplication transformation logic such as performing computations andformatting to create a consumption ready record. The Child ICE Chain 105may insert the final consumption ready record into the Cache table 300ready for consumption. The Load portion of the ETL is processed by theChild ICE Chains 105 which update the DB2 Cache table 300 using theInsert, Delete and Update structured query language (SQL) operations viaDB2 remote Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA). TheCache table 300 may be available on a highly available mainframe, suchas a Z DB2 mainframe. When the interfaces and/or user inquire regardinguser/customer data, the data is exposed via the SQL stored procedures.The SQL, stored procedures will leverage a special purpose processor, asa zIIP engine, to reduce third party CPU costs, for instance forprocessing the I/O, and expose the responses in near real-time, such assubstantially real-time.

In contrast to legacy ETL tools, where integration of the complextransformation logic into the legacy ETL tool is difficult, applicationsof the current system, which may be coded in any suitable computerlanguage, such as COBOL, may be integrated easily into the ICE Chain 100ETL processing. Typically, the integration of the transformationperformed in the COBOL modules cannot be integrated with the otherlegacy ETL tools with ease. For instance, separate transformationprocesses must be created for the legacy ETL tools. These multipledisparate transformation programs required maintenance which increasesIT costs to an organization.

With the ICE Chain 100 ETL processing of the current disclosure, thedevelopment and maintenance cost of the transformation programs isminimal as it can reuse the existing transformation programs, such asother COBOL programs, used for other channels. In the rare case wherethe data is corrupted on the destination site, data recovery may beaccomplished with minimal difficulty. The spawning of the threads(detailed below) can be controlled more effectively and tuned accordingto the requirements to achieve greater throughput.

In contrast to the presently described system, legacy ETL tools do nothave interfaces to execute COBOL application modules for thetransformation of data. Also, in contrast to the presently describedsystem, legacy ETL tools could not execute a preexisting existingtransformation module residing on the mainframe. In addition, the ICEChain 100 ETL tool uses a proprietary spawning mechanism to perform theideal thread management to replicate data changes in a near real-time(substantially in real time) fashion to the cache platform.

The CICS ICE Chain 100 ETL tool can easily couple with existing COBOLapplication programs that perform the Extract and the Transformationpieces of a replication. In various embodiments, an application may haveone COBOL utility program module that can perform the application logicto transform, compute, format, access, and update a database. This way,an application system can maintain just one program that can be used bymultiple channels such as the Batch processes, On-line screens, and theMQ Services. The same application program can be coupled with the ICEChain 100 for performing the Extract and Transform actions of the ETLprocess. Thus, the development costs of the Extract and Transformactions can be reduced and/or minimal. Also, the complex applicationlogic may be maintained in one spot, which may be leveraged by the CICSICE Chain 100 tool to perform the Extract and Transform with minimalcomplexity. In the other legacy ETL tools, one would need to create theExtract and Transform logic in the legacy ETL tool, and create theExtract and Transform logic in the application. This duplication createsunnecessary complexity and using additional time.

In various embodiments, the ICE Chain 100 ETL tool is configured to usededicated Change tables 200 for the Child ICE Chain 105 threads. Thisway, the threads do not lock each other out and there is minimalcontention. In various embodiments, the number of ICE Chain 100 threadsservicing the ETL process can be regulated on the basis of the number ofrequests flowing through the system. For instance, depending on thearrival rate of the requests, more ICE Chain 105 threads may be spawned.In various embodiments, the ratio between the number of ICE Chain 105threads needed, and the number of pending requests to be processed maybe maintained in a control table 200. The Master ICE Chain 101 maymonitor the Master Change table 200, and spawn more Child ICE Chain 105threads in response to the requests pending to be processed in theChange table 200, number of threads running in the system, and/or thenumber of threads needed to process in a near real time fashion asdefined in a Control table 210.

If the ETL process goes wrong and the destination data is corrupted, itis very easy to reprocess the requests by changing the timestamp to anerror-free timestamp occurrence. The Master ICE Chain 101 copies theChange records from the Parent Change table 201 to Child Change tables205 in response to the timestamp which is maintained in the Controltable 210. In response to a recovery being needed, the timestamp may bechanged back to an earlier in time timestamp, for example, a timestampassociated with valid data. The Parent ICE Chain 101 will restart theprocess from a back dated timestamp and copy the older records back ontothe Child Change tables 205 and the Child ICE Chains 105 will reprocessthe data.

The present system assists with reducing the development cost and/orreducing the time to market duration. This will also help in reducingthe operational costs, and reducing the complexity of the transformationas it can be one source module to be reused by multiple avenues.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the systemmay be embodied as a customization of an existing system, an add-onproduct, upgraded software, a stand alone system, a distributed system,a method, a data processing system, a device for data processing, and/ora computer program product. Accordingly, the system may take the form ofan entirely software embodiment, an entirely hardware embodiment, orvarious embodiments combining aspects of both software and hardware.Furthermore, the system may take the form of a computer program producton a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium havingcomputer-readable program code means embodied in the storage medium. Anysuitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized, includingbard disks, CD-ROM, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices,and/or the like.

In the Figures, the process flows depicted are merely embodiments andare not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. For example, thesteps recited in any of the method or process descriptions may beexecuted in any order and are not limited to the order presented.Referring to FIG. 1, a combination block diagram and flowchartillustrating an exemplary architecture for ICE Chain 100 andimplementation according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure is depicted. FIG. 1 depicts, front end programs and back endsystems interacting with various databases to result in changes beingpopulated through the system to the caching platform.

FIGS. 2-4 depict exemplary DB2 tables using the ICE Chain 100methodology/architecture to perform an identified data replicationthrough the system to the caching platform. Referring to FIG. 2, aMaster Change table 201 is depicted (IM08). Master change table 201 IM08parses the entries from the master change table in a plurality of childchange tables 205, IM80-IM89. These change tables 201, 205 may interfacewith various databases NTCCH0-NTCCH9. There may be an associated MasterICE Chain 101 or child ICE chain 105 corresponding to each change tableentry. In various embodiments, a redundant/backup caching platformand/or control table are created.

Referring to FIG. 3, similar to the description of FIG. 2, a Masterchange table 201 is depicted (IM07). IM07 parses the entries from theMaster change table 201 in a plurality of child change tables 205,IM70-IM79. These change tables may interface with various databasesNTCCT0-NTCCT9. There may be an associated master ICE Chain 101 or childICE Chain 105 corresponding to each change table 200 entry. In variousembodiments, a redundant/backup caching platform and/or control table210 are created.

Referring to FIG. 4, similar to the description of FIGS. 2 and 3, amaster change table 201 is depicted (IM09). IM09 parses the entries fromthe master change table 201 in a plurality of child change tables 205,IM90-IM99. These change tables may interface with various databasesNTCCB0-NTCCB9. There may be an associated child ICE Chain 105 or masterICE Chain 101 corresponding to each change table entry. In variousembodiments, a redundant/backup caching platform and/or control table210 are created.

By way of summary, the interval control element chain 100 processingsystem is a real-time extracting, transforming, and/or loading data(customer information control system) tool. The ICE Chain 100application program is configured to run at a predetermined intervaland/or in response to an event. For instance, in a transaction accountissuer environment, as data changes to transaction accounts are receivedby the transaction account issuer system data is changed on one or moredatabase tables. The ICE Chain 100 application program captures/extractsthis data and populates it to a consumption record. An ICE Chain 100application program may be created for any type of change to the system.For instance, a separate ICE Chain 100 application program may exist forcapturing changes to a transaction database, new account database,demographic database, balance database, fraud database, paymentdatabase, etc. Based on the particular ICE Chain 100 associated with thetype of change to the system, a respective application table isaccessed. Associated data is pulled from the respective applicationtable and specified business rules are applied. Thus, the ICE Chain 100calls a respective application program which performs a transformation.In response to the transformation being complete, denormalization isperformed. The transformed records are transmitted over through aDistributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA) to a cachingplatform and then loaded to the caching platform. Thus, these recordsare available to a user and are consumption ready. For instance, theserecords are available to a user and are consumption ready without theneed for additional database table record calls.

In various embodiments, a master control table 201 and master ICE Chain101 determines the number of spawned child ICE Chains 105 which may beneeded to efficiently populate a change to the system to the cachingplatform. For instance, volume of changes may be used to determine thenumber of spawned child ICE Chains 105 needed. Also, to avoid theconcern of contention of multiple simultaneous changes to the system amaster controls table various spawned child ICE Chains 105.

In various embodiments, the system (e.g., the master control table 201)determines if the transfer desires an ICE Chain 100. In variousembodiments, a high-volume, low-latency replication solution betweensource and target databases or subsystems, such as Q replicator, may beused to perform the transformation in lieu of an ICE Chain 100. Thisprocess may be implemented in response to a change being detected thatdoes not involve heavy data manipulation. For instance, in the case of asingle record being moved with no manipulation or formatting.Furthermore, in various embodiments, a third party ETL may perform aportion of a extract, transfer and load as determined by the systemaccording transformation rules or business rules while ICE Chains 100are utilized for the remaining portions.

Moreover, the master ICE Chain 101 can replay changes back to aspecified period, for instance within two days using time stampsassociated with the particular ETL. The master ICE Chain 101 savesand/or does not delete any of the records of ETLs performed for apre-determined period. If needed, all records may be redistributed backinto the tables and re-run based on a time stamp for recovery.

For instance, and with reference to FIG. 2, for a change that happensacross the system, a change record may be written into the control table210. That control table 210 may determine how many threads (105) areactive and that each thread has its own control table 210. Each threadmay have its own table of requests that it is configured to complete.Each control table 210 is associated with an ICE Chain 100. Each ICEChain 100 may call upon an application transformation program tocomplete the requisite transformation. Each application transformationprogram may be unique depending on the transformation type beingaccomplished and have its own transformation rules or business rulesdictating the transformation.

The ICE Chain 100 application program itself can link to any otherprogram in the mainframe resulting in enhanced scalability andreusability, reducing time to market. For instance, an applicationtransformation program may be called from a back office, from an onlineoffice, and/or from an ICE Chain 100 for an extract, transform load, allin one central place.

For the sake of brevity, conventional data networking, applicationdevelopment and other functional aspects of the systems (and componentsof the individual operating components of the systems) may not bedescribed in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown inthe various figures contained herein are intended to represent exemplaryfunctional relationships and/or physical couplings between the variouselements. It should be noted that many alternative or additionalfunctional relationships or physical connections may be present in apractical system.

The various system components discussed herein may include one or moreof the following: a host server or other computing systems including aprocessor for processing digital data; a memory coupled to the processorfor storing digital data; an input digitizer coupled to the processorfor inputting digital data; an application program stored in the memoryand accessible by the processor for directing processing of digital databy the processor; a display device coupled to the processor and memoryfor displaying information derived from digital data processed by theprocessor; and a plurality of databases. Various databases used hereinmay include: client data; merchant data; financial institution data;and/or like data useful in the operation of the system. As those skilledin the art will appreciate, user computer may include an operatingsystem (e.g., Windows NT, Windows 95/98/2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista,Windows 7, OS2, UNIX, Linux, Solaris, MacOS, etc.) as well as variousconventional support software and drivers typically associated withcomputers. A user may include any individual, business, entity,government organization, software and/or hardware that interact with asystem.

A web client includes any device (e.g., personal computer) whichcommunicates via any network, for example such as those discussedherein. Such browser applications comprise Internet browsing softwareinstalled within a computing unit or a system to conduct onlinetransactions and/or communications. These computing units or systems maytake the form of a computer or set of computers, although other types ofcomputing units or systems may be used, including laptops, notebooks,hand held computers, personal digital assistants, set-top boxes,workstations, computer-servers, main frame computers, mini-computers, PCservers, pervasive computers, network sets of computers, personalcomputers, such as iPads, iMACs, and MacBooks, kiosks, terminals, pointof sale (POS) devices and/or terminals, televisions, or any other devicecapable of receiving data over a network. A web-client may run MicrosoftInternet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, or anyother of the myriad software packages available for browsing theinternet.

Practitioners will appreciate that a web client may or may not be indirect contact with an application server. For example, a web client mayaccess the services of an application server through another serverand/or hardware component, which may have a direct or indirectconnection to an Internet server. For example, a web client maycommunicate with an application server via a load balancer. In variousembodiments, access is through a network or the Internet through acommercially-available web-browser software package.

As those skilled in the art will appreciate, a web client includes anoperating system (e.g., Windows NT, 95/98/2000/CE/Mobile, OS2, UNIX,Linux, Solaris, MacOS, PalmOS, etc.) as well as various conventionalsupport software and drivers typically associated with computers. A webclient may include any suitable personal computer, network computer,workstation, personal digital assistant, cellular phone, smart phone,minicomputer, mainframe or the like. A web client can be in a home orbusiness environment with access to a network. In various embodiments,access is through a network or the Internet through a commerciallyavailable web-browser software package. A web client may implementsecurity protocols such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and TransportLayer Security (TLS). A web client may implement several applicationlayer protocols including blip, https, ftp, and sftp.

In various embodiments, various components, modules, and/or engines ofsystem 100 may be implemented as micro-applications or micro-apps.Micro-apps are typically deployed in the context of a mobile operatingsystem, including for example, a Palm mobile operating system, a Windowsmobile operating system, an Android Operating System, Apple iOS, aBlackberry operating system and the like. The micro-app may beconfigured to leverage the resources of the larger operating system andassociated hardware via a set of predetermined rules which govern theoperations of various operating systems and hardware resources. Forexample, where a micro-app desires to communicate with a device ornetwork other than the mobile device or mobile operating system, themicro-app may leverage the communication protocol of the operatingsystem and associated device hardware under the predetermined rules ofthe mobile operating system. Moreover, where the micro-app desires aninput from a user, the micro-app may be configured to request a responsefrom the operating system which monitors various hardware components andthen communicates a detected input from the hardware to the micro-app.

As used herein, the term “network” includes any cloud, cloud computingsystem or electronic communications system or method which incorporateshardware and/or software components. Communication among the parties maybe accomplished through any suitable communication channels, such as,for example, a telephone network, an extranet, an intranet, Internet,point of interaction device (point of sale device, personal digitalassistant (e.g., iPhone®, Palm Pilot®, Blackberry®), cellular phone,kiosk, etc.), online communications, satellite communications, off-linecommunications, wireless communications, transponder communications,local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), virtual privatenetwork (VPN), networked or linked devices, keyboard, mouse and/or anysuitable communication or data input modality. Moreover, although thesystem is frequently described herein as being implemented with TCP/IPcommunications protocols, the system may also be implemented using IPX,Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI, any tunneling protocol (e.g. IPsec, SSH),or any number of existing or future protocols. If the network is in thenature of a public network, such as the Internet, it may be advantageousto presume the network to be insecure and open to eavesdroppers.Specific information related to the protocols, standards, andapplication software utilized in connection with the Internet isgenerally known to those skilled in the art and, as such, need not bedetailed herein. See, for example, DILIP NAIK, INTERNET STANDARDS ANDPROTOCOLS (1998); JAVA 2 COMPLETE, various authors, (Sybex 1999);DEBORAH RAY AND ERIC RAY, MASTERING HTML 4.0 (1997); and LOSHIN, TCP/IPCLEARLY EXPLAINED (1997) and DAVID GOURLEY AND BRAIN TOTTY, HTTP, THEDEFINITIVE GUIDE (2002), the contents of which are hereby incorporatedby reference.

The various system components may be independently, separately orcollectively suitably coupled to the network via data links whichincludes, for example, a connection to an Internet Service Provider(ISP) over the local loop as is typically used in connection withstandard modem communication, cable modem, Dish networks, ISDN, DigitalSubscriber Line (DSL), or various wireless communication methods, see,e.g., GILBERT HELD, UNDERSTANDING DATA COMMUNICATIONS (1996), which ishereby incorporated by reference. It is noted that the network may beimplemented as other types of networks, such as an interactivetelevision (ITV) network. Moreover, the system contemplates the use,sale or distribution of any goods, services or information over anynetwork having similar functionality described herein.

“Cloud” or “Cloud computing” includes a model for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services)that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal managementeffort or service provider interaction. Cloud computing may includelocation-independent computing, whereby shared servers provideresources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand.For more information regarding cloud computing, see the NIST's (NationalInstitute of Standards and Technology) definition of cloud computing athttp://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/cloud-computing/cloud-def-v15.doc (lastvisited Feb. 4, 2011), which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

As used herein, “transmit” may include sending electronic data from onesystem component to another over a network connection. Additionally, asused herein, “data” may include encompassing information such ascommands, queries, files, data for storage, and the like in digital orany other form.

The system contemplates uses in association with web services, utilitycomputing, pervasive and individualized computing, security and identitysolutions, autonomic computing, cloud computing, commodity computing,mobility and wireless solutions, open source, biometrics, grid computingand/or mesh computing.

Any databases discussed herein may include relational, hierarchical,graphical, or object-oriented structure and/or any other databaseconfigurations. Common database products that may be used to implementthe databases include DB2 by IBM (Armonk, N.Y.), various databaseproducts available from Oracle Corporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.),Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server by Microsoft Corporation(Redmond, Wash.), MySQL by MySQL AB (Uppsala, Sweden), or any othersuitable database product. Moreover, the databases may be organized inany suitable manner, for example, as data tables or lookup tables. Eachrecord may be a single file, a series of files, a linked series of datafields or any other data structure. Association of certain data may beaccomplished through any desired data association technique such asthose known or practiced in the art. For example, the association may beaccomplished either manually or automatically. Automatic associationtechniques may include, for example, a database search, a databasemerge, GREP, AGREP, SQL, using a key field in the tables to speedsearches, sequential searches through all the tables and files, sortingrecords in the file according to a known order to simplify lookup,and/or the like. The association step may be accomplished by a databasemerge function, for example, using a “key field” in pre-selecteddatabases or data sectors. Various database tuning steps arecontemplated to optimize database performance. For example, frequentlyused files such as indexes may be placed on separate file systems toreduce In/Out (“I/O”) bottlenecks.

More particularly, a “key field” partitions the database according tothe high-level class of objects defined by the key field. For example,certain types of data may be designated as a key field in a plurality ofrelated data tables and the data tables may then be linked on the basisof the type of data in the key field. The data corresponding to the keyfield in each of the linked data tables is preferably the same or of thesame type. However, data tables having similar, though not identical,data in the key fields may also be linked by using AGREP, for example.In accordance with various embodiments, any suitable data storagetechnique may be utilized to store data without a standard format. Datasets may be stored using any suitable technique, including, for example,storing individual files using an ISO/IEC 7816-4 file structure;implementing a domain whereby a dedicated file is selected that exposesone or more elementary files containing one or more data sets; usingdata sets stored in individual files using a hierarchical filing system;data sets stored as records in a single file (including compression, SQLaccessible, hashed via one or more keys, numeric, alphabetical by firsttuple, etc.); Binary Large Object (BLOB); stored as ungrouped dataelements encoded using ISO/IEC 7816-6 data elements; stored as ungroupeddata elements encoded using ISO/IEC Abstract Syntax Notation (ASN.1) asin ISO/IEC 8824 and 8825; and/or other proprietary techniques that mayinclude fractal compression methods, image compression methods, etc.

In various embodiments, the ability to store a wide variety ofinformation in different formats is facilitated by storing theinformation as a BLOB. Thus, any binary information can be stored in astorage space associated with a data set. As discussed above, the binaryinformation may be stored on the financial transaction instrument orexternal to but affiliated with the financial transaction instrument.The BLOB method may store data sets as ungrouped data elements formattedas a block of binary via a fixed memory offset using either fixedstorage allocation, circular queue techniques, or best practices withrespect to memory management (e.g., paged memory, least recently used,etc.). By using BLOB methods, the ability to store various data setsthat have different formats facilitates the storage of data associatedwith the financial transaction instrument by multiple and unrelatedowners of the data sets. For example, a first data set which may bestored may be provided by a first party, a second data set which may bestored may be provided by an unrelated second party, and yet a thirddata set which may be stored, may be provided by an third partyunrelated to the first and second party. Each of these three exemplarydata sets may contain different information that is stored usingdifferent data storage formats and/or techniques. Further, each data setmay contain subsets of data that also may be distinct from othersubsets.

As stated above, in various embodiments, the data can be stored withoutregard to a common format. However, in various embodiments, the data set(e.g., BLOB) may be annotated in a standard manner when provided formanipulating the data onto the financial transaction instrument. Theannotation may comprise a short header, trailer, or other appropriateindicator related to each data set that is configured to conveyinformation useful in managing the various data sets. For example, theannotation may be called a “condition header”, “header”, “trailer”, or“status”, herein, and may comprise an indication of the status of thedata set or may include an identifier correlated to a specific issuer orowner of the data. In one example, the first three bytes of each dataset BLOB may be configured or configurable to indicate the status ofthat particular data set; e.g., LOADED, INITIALIZED, READY, BLOCKED,REMOVABLE, or DELETED. Subsequent bytes of data may be used to indicatefor example, the identity of the issuer, user, transaction/membershipaccount identifier or the like. Each of these condition annotations arefurther discussed herein.

The data set annotation may also be used for other types of statusinformation as well as various other purposes. For example, the data setannotation may include security information establishing access levels.The access levels may, for example, be configured to permit only certainindividuals, levels of employees, companies, or other entities to accessdata sets, or to permit access to specific data sets based on thetransaction, merchant, issuer, user or the like. Furthermore, thesecurity information may restrict/permit only certain actions such asaccessing, modifying, and/or deleting data sets. In one example, thedata set annotation indicates that only the data set owner or the userare permitted to delete a data set, various identified users may bepermitted to access the data set for reading, and others are altogetherexcluded from accessing the data set. However, other access restrictionparameters may also be used allowing various entities to access a dataset with various permission levels as appropriate.

One skilled in the art will also appreciate that, for security reasons,any databases, systems, devices, servers or other components of thesystem may consist of any combination thereof at a single location or atmultiple locations, wherein each database or system includes any ofvarious suitable security features, such as firewalls, access codes,encryption, decryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

Encryption may be performed by way of any of the techniques nowavailable in the art or which may become available—e.g., Twofish, RSA,El Garnal, Schorr signature, DSA, PGP, PKI, and symmetric and asymmetriccryptosystems.

The computing unit of the web client may be further equipped with anInternet browser connected to the Internet or an intranet using standarddial-up, cable, DSL or any other Internet protocol known in the art.Transactions originating at a web client may pass through a firewall inorder to prevent unauthorized access from users of other networks.Further, additional firewalls may be deployed between the varyingcomponents of CMS to further enhance security.

Firewall may include any hardware and/or software suitably configured toprotect CMS components and/or enterprise computing resources from usersof other networks. Further, a firewall may be configured to limit orrestrict access to various systems and components behind the firewallfor web clients connecting through a web server. Firewall may reside invarying configurations including Stateful Inspection, Proxy based,access control lists, and Packet Filtering among others. Firewall may beintegrated within an web server or any other CMS components or mayfurther reside as a separate entity. A firewall may implement networkaddress translation (“NAT”) and/or network address port translation(“NAPT”). A firewall may accommodate various tunneling protocols tofacilitate secure communications, such as those used in virtual privatenetworking. A firewall may implement a demilitarized zone (“DMZ”) tofacilitate communications with a public network such as the Internet. Afirewall may be integrated as software within an Internet server, anyother application server components or may reside within anothercomputing device or may take the form of a standalone hardwarecomponent.

The computers discussed herein may provide a suitable website or otherInternet-based graphical user interface which is accessible by users. Invarious embodiments, the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS),Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), and Microsoft SQL Server, are usedin conjunction with the Microsoft operating system, Microsoft NT webserver software, a Microsoft SQL Server database system, and a MicrosoftCommerce Server. Additionally, components such as Access or MicrosoftSQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, Informix MySQL, Interbase, etc., may be usedto provide an Active Data Object (ADO) compliant database managementsystem. In various embodiments, the Apache web server is used inconjunction with a Linux operating system, a MySQL database, and thePerl, PHP, and/or Python programming languages.

Any of the communications, inputs, storage, databases or displaysdiscussed herein may be facilitated through a website having web pages.The term “web page” as it is used herein is not meant to limit the typeof documents and applications that might be used to interact with theuser. For example, a typical website might include, in addition tostandard HTML documents, various forms, Java applets, JavaScript, activeserver pages (ASP), common gateway interface scripts (CGI), extensiblemarkup language (XML), dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets (CSS), AJAX(Asynchronous Javascript And XML), helper applications, plug-ins, andthe like. A server may include a web service that receives a requestfrom a web server, the request including a URL(http://yahoo.com/stockquotes/ge) and an IP address (123.56.789.234).The web server retrieves the appropriate web pages and sends the data orapplications for the web pages to the IP address. Web services areapplications that are capable of interacting with other applicationsover a communications means, such as the internet. Web services aretypically based on standards or protocols such as XML, SOAP, AJAX, WSDLand UDDI. Web services methods are well known in the art, and arecovered in many standard texts. See, e.g., ALEX NGHIEM, IT WEB SERVICES:A ROADMAP FOR THE ENTERPRISE (2003), hereby incorporated by reference.

Middleware may include any hardware and/or software suitably configuredto facilitate communications and/or process transactions betweendisparate computing systems. Middleware components are commerciallyavailable and known in the art. Middleware may be implemented throughcommercially available hardware and/or software, through custom hardwareand/or software components, or through a combination thereof. Middlewaremay reside in a variety of configurations and may exist as a standalonesystem or may be a software component residing on the Internet server.Middleware may be configured to process transactions between the variouscomponents of an application server and any number of internal orexternal systems for any of the purposes disclosed herein. WebSphereMQTM (formerly MQSeries) by IBM, Inc. (Armonk, N.Y.) is an example of acommercially available middleware product. An Enterprise Service Bus(“ESB”) application is another example of middleware.

The system and method may be described herein in terms of functionalblock components, screen shots, optional selections and variousprocessing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocksmay be realized by any number of hardware and/or software componentsconfigured to perform the specified functions. For example, the systemmay employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements,processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, whichmay carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or moremicroprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the softwareelements of the system may be implemented with any programming orscripting language such as C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, VBScript,Macromedia Cold Fusion, COBOL, Microsoft Active Server Pages, assembly,PERL, PHP, awk, Python, Visual Basic, SQL Stored Procedures, PL/SQL, anyUNIX shell script, and extensible markup language (XML) with the variousalgorithms being implemented with any combination of data structures,objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Further, itshould be noted that the system may employ any number of conventionaltechniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, networkcontrol, and the like. Still further, the system could be used to detector prevent security issues with a client-side scripting language, suchas JavaScript, VBScript or the like. For a basic introduction ofcryptography and network security, see any of the following references;(1) “Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,”by Bruce Schneier, published by John Wiley & Sons (second edition,1995): (2) “Java Cryptography” by Jonathan Knudson, published byO'Reilly & Associates (1998); (3) “Cryptography & Network Security:Principles & Practice” by William Stallings, published by Prentice Hall;all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

As used herein, the term “end user”, “consumer”, “customer”,“cardmember”, “business” or “merchant” may be used interchangeably witheach other, and each shall mean any person, entity, machine, hardware,software or business. A bank may be part of the system, but the bank mayrepresent other types of card issuing institutions, such as credit cardcompanies, card sponsoring companies, or third party issuers undercontract with financial institutions. It is further noted that otherparticipants may be involved in some phases of the transaction, such, asan intermediary settlement institution, but these participants are notshown.

Each participant is equipped with a computing device in order tointeract with the system and facilitate online commerce transactions.The customer has a computing unit in the form of a personal computer,although other types of computing units may be used including laptops,notebooks, hand held computers, set-top boxes, cellular telephones,touch-tone telephones and the like. The merchant has a computing unitimplemented in the form of a computer-server, although otherimplementations are contemplated by the system. The bank has a computingcenter shown as a main frame computer. However, the bank computingcenter may be implemented in other forms, such as a mini-computer, a PCserver, a network of computers located in the same of differentgeographic locations, or the like. Moreover, the system contemplates theuse, sale or distribution of any goods, services or information over anynetwork having similar functionality described herein

The merchant computer and the bank computer may be interconnected via asecond network, referred to as a payment network. The payment networkwhich may be part, of certain transactions represents existingproprietary networks that presently accommodate transactions for creditcards, debit cards, and other types of financial/banking cards. Thepayment network is a closed network that is assumed to be secure fromeavesdroppers. Exemplary transaction networks may include the AmericanExpress®, VisaNet® and the Veriphone® networks.

The electronic commerce system may be implemented at the customer andissuing bank. In an exemplary implementation, the electronic commercesystem is implemented as computer software modules loaded onto thecustomer computer and the banking computing center. The merchantcomputer does not require any additional software to participate in theonline commerce transactions supported by the online commerce system.

The system arid method is described herein with reference to blockdiagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (e.g.,systems), and computer program products according to variousembodiments. It will be understood that each functional block of theblock diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, and combinations offunctional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations,respectively, can be implemented by computer program instructions.

These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructionsthat execute on the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks. These computer program instructions may alsobe stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support combinations of means for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each functional block of the block diagramsand flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks inthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented byeither special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform thespecified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions. Further, illustrations ofthe process flows and the descriptions thereof may make reference touser windows, webpages, websites, web forms, prompts, etc. Practitionerswill appreciate that the illustrated steps described herein may comprisein any number of configurations including the use of windows, webpages,web forms, popup windows, prompts and the like. It should be furtherappreciated that the multiple steps as illustrated and described may becombined into single webpages and/or windows but have been expanded forthe sake of simplicity. In other cases, steps illustrated and describedas single process steps may be separated into multiple webpages and/orwindows but have been combined for simplicity.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed herein with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any elements that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of the disclosure. The scope of the disclosure isaccordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims, inwhich reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean“one and only one” unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one ormore.” Moreover, where a phrase similar to ‘at least one of A, B, and C’or ‘at least, one of A, B, or C’ is used in the claims or specification,it is intended that the phrase be interpreted to mean that A alone maybe present in various embodiments, B alone may be present in variousembodiments, C alone may be present in various embodiments, or that anycombination of the elements A, B and C may be present in a singleembodiment; for example, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C.Although the disclosure includes a method, it is contemplated that itmay be embodied as computer program instructions on a tangiblecomputer-readable carrier, such as a magnetic or optical memory or amagnetic or optical disk. All structural, chemical, and functionalequivalents to the elements of the above-described exemplary embodimentsthat are known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expresslyincorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed bythe present claims. Moreover, it is not necessary for a device or methodto address each and every problem sought to be solved by the presentdisclosure, for it to be encompassed by the present claims. Furthermore,no element, component, or method step in the present disclosure isintended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether theelement, component, or method step is explicitly recited in the claims.No claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recitedusing the phrase “means for.” As used herein, the terms “comprises”,“comprising”, or any other variation thereof are intended to cover anon-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus.

The term “iron-transitory” is to be understood to remove onlypropagating transitory signals per se from the claim scope and does notrelinquish rights to all standard computer-readable media that are notonly propagating transitory signals per se. Stated another way, themeaning of the term “non-transitory computer-readable medium” should beconstrued to exclude only those types of transitory computer-readablemedia which were found in In Re Nuijten to fall outside the scope ofpatentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. §101.

1. A system comprising: a processor configured for data retrieval, atangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with theprocessor, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructionsstored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, causethe processor to perform operations comprising: writing, by theprocessor, a change record to a master change table; monitoring, by theprocessor, the master change table by a master ICE Chain; allocating, bythe processor, among child change tables with associated child ICEChains a portion of an extract task using a master ICE Chainapplication, wherein the master CE Chain application is associated witha legacy Cobol programmed system; executing, by the processor, for eachchild ICE Chain, an application service program to capture data from aplurality of databases; and performing, by the processor, applicationtransformation logic to create a consumption ready record, wherein theconsumption ready record further comprises the data is available withoutrequiring additional computations, wherein the consumption ready recordis written to a cache table, wherein requests for information associatedwith the change record are available for retrieval without additionalcomputation.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the application serviceprogram executed is particular to the task for each portion of theextract task.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the executing of theapplication service program to capture data from the plurality ofdatabases is performed according to business rules.
 4. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the application transformation logic further comprisesat least one of performing computations and formatting. 5-6. (canceled)7. The system of claim 1, wherein a timestamp is associated with eachwriting to the master change table.
 8. The system of claim 7, whereinthe system may be reset to any timestamp.
 9. The system of claim 1,wherein the master ICE Chain application program is configured to run ata predetermined interval.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the masterICE Chain application program is configured to run in response to ameasured event.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein a child ICE Chainapplication program is configured to another program stored on amainframe.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the ICE Chain applicationprogram is coded in COBOL.
 13. The system of claim 1, in response to atransformation occurring, denormalization is performed.
 14. The systemof claim 1, further comprising employing a third party application toperform a portion of at least one of the extraction, the transformationor the load.
 15. The system of claim 1, further comprising a spawningmechanism configured for thread management, wherein data changes arereplicated substantially in real time.
 16. An article of manufactureincluding a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage mediumhaving instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by acomputer-based system for data retrieval, cause the computer-basedsystem to perform operations comprising: writing, by the computer-basedsystem, a change record to a master change table; monitoring, by thecomputer-based system, the master change table by a master ICE Chain;allocating, by the computer-based system, among child change tables withassociated child ICE Chains a portion of an extract task using a masterICE Chain application, wherein the master ICE Cham application isassociated with a legacy Cobol programmed system; executing, by thecomputer-based system for each child ICE Chain, an application serviceprogram to capture data from a plurality of databases; and performing,by the computer-based system, application transformation logic to createa consumption ready record, wherein the consumption ready record furthercomprises the data is available without requiring additionalcomputations, wherein the consumption ready record is written to a cachetable, wherein requests for information associated with the changerecord are available for retrieval without additional computation. 17.The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the application serviceprogram executed is particular to the task for each portion of theextract task.
 18. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein theexecuting of the application service program to capture data from theplurality of databases is performed according to business rules. 19-20.(canceled)
 21. A computer-implemented method comprising: writing, by acomputer-based system for data retrieval, a change record to a masterchange table; monitoring, by the computer-based system, the masterchange table by a master ICE Chain; allocating, by the computer-basedsystem, among child change tables with associated child ICE Chains aportion of an extract task using a master ICE Chain application, whereinthe master ICE Chain application is associated with a legacy Cobolprogrammed system; executing, by the computer-based system, for eachchild ICE Chain, an application service program to capture data from aplurality of databases; and performing, by the computer-based system,application transformation logic to create a consumption ready record,wherein the consumption ready record further comprises the data isavailable without requiring additional computations, wherein theconsumption ready record is written to a cache table, wherein requestsfor information associated with the change record are available forretrieval without additional computation.
 22. The system of claim 1,wherein changes to the consumption ready record are populated, inresponse to changes to data related to an associated account occurringand being received by a transaction account issuer system.
 23. Thesystem of claim 22, wherein responses to requests for calculationsassociated with data related to an associated account are available insubstantially real-time without performing a calculation.